Religion Around the World

[Online Professor]

There are twelve classical world religions—those religions most often included in history of world religion surveys and studied in world religions classes: Baha'i, Buddhism, Christianity, Confucianism, Hinduism, Islam, Jainism, Judaism, Shinto, Sikhism, Taoism, and Zoroastrianism.

Basic information on various religions:

Religion	Date Founded	Sacred Texts	Membership 4	% of World 5
Christianity	30 CE	The Bible	2,039 million	32% (dropping)
Islam	622 CE	Qur'an & Hadith	1,570 million	22% (growing)
Hinduism	1500 BCE with truly ancient roots	Bhagavad-Gita, Upanishads, & Rig Veda	950 million	13% (stable)
No religion (Note 1)	-	None	775 million	12% (dropping)
Chinese folk religion	270 BCE	None	390 million	6%
Buddhism	523 BCE	The Tripitaka (consisting of the Vinaya, the Sutras, and the Abhidharma)	350 - 1,600 million (2)	6% (stable?)
Tribal Religions, Shamanism, Animism	Prehistory	Oral tradition	232 million	4%
Atheists	No date	None	150 million	2%
New religions.	Various	Various	103 million	2%
Sikhism	1500 CE	Guru Granth Sahib	23.8 million	<1%
Judaism	Note 3	Torah, Tanach, & Talmud	14.5 million	<1%
Spiritism			12.6 million	<1%
Baha'i Faith	1863 CE	Alkitab Alaqdas	7.4 million	<1%
Confucianism	520 BCE	Lun Yu	6.3 million	<1%
Jainism	570 BCE	Siddhanta, Pakrit	4.3 million	<1%
Zoroastrianism	600 to 6000 BCE	Avesta	2.7 million	<1%
Shinto	500 CE	Kojiki, Nohon Shoki	2.7 million	<1%
Taoism Note 4	550 BCE	Tao-te-Ching	2.7 million	<1%
Other	Various	Various	1.1 million	<1%
Wicca Note 5	800 BCE, 1940 CE	None	0.5 million?	<1%

 

Most people know virtually nothing about the tenants of other religions. They tend to believe what they believe based on where they were born. The two largest religions are Christianity and Islam and both gained converts by compelling the people they conquered to accept their religion.